Investigation of the tack force of poultices using the probe tack test

Abstract

Only a few systematic tack force studies have been conducted on poultices although they are widely used in therapeutic fields. In this study, we evaluated the factors influencing the tack force of poultices using the design of experiments (DoE) approach. The effects of detachment speed, pressuring time, pressuring force, coating thickness, carbomer content, and active pharmaceutical integrant (API) content on adhesion performance were evaluated using 46 response surface designs, after which the maximum value of the stress curve (σ_max) was recorded. The results revealed that all factors except pressuring time significantly affected the response (at the 5% level), and two-factor interactions were identified using the DoE approach to evaluate carbomer content, pressuring force, coating thickness, and API content.

Keywords:

• Indomethacin poultices
• tack force
• probe
• multi-factor

Acknowledgment

We would also like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) of China under Grant—Study on key quality control technology for the transdermal patch (1030050090115).